Frosted Pines of New Gwynedd
by Slytherin Shaman
Summary: Based on the Changeling story I'm playing in. Follow Christyana Adyna "Wispy Christy" Frank, a young girl that will soon discover that her favorite horror stories are real. Rating for language and probable adult situations.
1. Elementary Days

_January 15th, 1981  
_I wake up to Mum tapping on my door. I call out to tell her that I was up and I'd be down in a minute. I get dressed under the covers because it was cold in my room. It had snowed through the night and there was at least a food of snow on the ground. I find my shoes by the back door and get them on.  
The window had pretty frost patterns on it.  
Mum had fixed eggs and toast for breakfast, and left about fifteen minutes after I came down. I get my snow pants on and head to school.  
At the usual place (just past Third Street), Andres managed to get me with a snowball on the back of my head, and on my backpack. Not much snowmelt got down my back and The Brothers Grimm compilation was unharmed.  
I saw a black cat on the way to school out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't get a good look at it. It seemed to go into the old couple's garden. I thought I saw it go around the corner at school too, but I had to get to class so I didn't follow it.

UGH! Science test! A couple questions came right out of the blue and I'm pretty sure I got them wrong. UGH!  
Lunch and recess come not long after the science test, and I was outside before I even realized that I'd forgotten to duck into the bathroom so I sneak into the library instead. I sit on the ridge near the trees, sulking slightly because the Aides that watched the playground wouldn't let anyone inside even to go to the bathroom.  
Andres and his lackeys try to sneak up on me and try to taunt me into coming down to 'play'. I really wasn't thinking when I pick up a handful of snow and threw it at him. I wasn't aiming for his face, not that he'll ever believe it.  
I try to run away, but Andres catches me and shoves snow in my face. I somehow get away from him, pushing him down before taking off again but Mike catches me almost immediately after and shoves me up against a tree. The pine needles scratch at my face. Mike held me still while Andres and Phil delivered the punches to my face and stomach.  
As usual, Mr. Connor didn't say anything about the bruises forming on my face. I didn't really expect him to.

Andres didn't bother me on the way home.  
It was darker on the way home. The snow didn't glitter like it had this morning and most of the frost on the windows had melted.  
Mum noticed the bruises and scratches when I got home, but I'd cleaned myself fairly well earlier. I didn't have to explain beyond the name "Andres" for the bruises. She fixed some hot chocolate, which made me feel better, even if I was still sore. She also gave me a pretty snow globe.

_January 16th, 1981_  
Mum woke me up again. It hurt to walk so I asked for a ride to school. I got there a half hour early so I went to the library. I found some of Poe's short stories. I read until the bell rang, which was probably not the best of ideas. Mr. Connor sent me back to the library to get a pass. I'm going to have to stay after school to help the librarian clean up, and they're calling Mum to let her know so she won't worry.  
Andres is giving me dirty looks. This is ridiculous… I wish he weren't in my class… I wonder if there's some way to transfer to Mari's class.  
UGH! UGHUGHUGHUGHUGH! I got yesterday's science test back. I got those two problems wrong like I thought. UGH! It was only a six-question test though so I got 66 on it. A D! Oh if Mum ever found out… It'd be worse than if Andres beat me up again.  
The test is in my desk. I'll look it over again and study those problems so I'm ready for the next test. Still… Ugh.

Recess was a mistake again. Ouch… I was staying near the door this time. I got some snide laughter but I'm used to that.  
I was just standing near the wall and Andres and his goons decided I'd be good for their target practice. I managed to dodge the first one but the second one caught me on the back of my head and pitched me forward. Unfortunately, this happened just in time to send me face first onto the patch of cement right before the door.  
I went to the nurse and she said I'd broken my nose. I'd also gotten a pretty good bloody lip.  
Ugh… Mum's not going to be pleased at all.

It was getting dark by the time I went home. Mum wasn't happy about the broken nose and bloody lip… But she did fix me some clam chowder for dinner. At least she didn't lecture me. I told her that it was because I took a snowball to the back of my head while I was running to get inside. It also had the benefit of distracting Mum from asking about my science test.  
At least it's Friday. The weekend at last!

_Author's Note: Many thanks to Peter for being my ST. This will be an ongoing bit, I think, just to keep track of how my Changeling game goes. Christyana Adyna Frank is of my own creation and I'm rather proud of her so please ask if you'd like to use her at all. I rewrote this because I wasn't too pleased with the two days separate… Oh well… It could've been worse. Thank you muchly and please review!  
Slytherin Shaman_


	2. High School

March 24th, 1987  
I woke up to a muddy and overcast landscape outside my window. With a resigned sigh, I push my blankets back and start getting showered and dressed, which was quickly taken care of.  
That settled, I set to gathering the books for school off of my desk. Each book went carefully into my back, spines down at the bottom of the messenger bag so the corners wouldn't get dog-eared. With a fond smile, I put my Brothers Grimm compilation in the bag as well, between my textbooks for Cell Biology and Health & Wellness. I'd read the faerie tales so much that I could probably recite a fair few from memory. There were times when they seemed more real than the book they were written in, but it was probably because most of the time that was late at night when I was reading to get to sleep.  
Mum had gone to work early and left a bowl of oatmeal on the warmer with raisins and brown sugar set to the side. I wrote a note thanking her and used an old picture magnet to place it on the fridge.  
At a quarter to eight, my dishes washed and set to dry, I headed out the door and towards school. My usual route took me from my house at the corner of Fourth Street East and Mayflower Way to the school on the corner of Second Street East and Mayflower Way. As I neared Third Street, a black blur raced along the corner of my vision, I tried to follow it, but it vanished into the Old Couple's garden again. It looked like a cat again. I figure it must be their cat and continue on.  
After I crossed Third Street, a snowball impacted the back of my knee, driving it forward, causing me to stumble slightly. I sigh resignedly as I brush the dingy snow away from my pants.  
"Heya bitch…" Andres' familiar voice sneers.  
"Don't you ever come up with anything new?" I ask more to myself than anyone but he heard me say something in spite of this.  
"What was that, bitch?" Andres asks, demanding. I continue to walk on, shaking my head. I shouldn't have said that. I'll just pretend I didn't say anything.  
"I asked you a question, bitch!" Andres snaps, walking quickly to catch up to me. At this point, I usually try outrunning him, but that usually never worked.  
So I wait until he's right behind me and couldn't stop if I did and then I stop and drive my left elbow backwards and up a bit. Andres is tall for our age group so I was just expecting to catch him by surprise in the gut and then take off running, but I lucked out. I heard him make an odd squeaking gasp and bend slightly over my elbow.  
I'd knocked the wind out of him. I whip around to see him, backing away and out of reach, his face was turning purple from gasping for breath and his eyes held the familiar rage-burning look that seemed to be reserved solely for me.  
I take off running after that moment of shock. I didn't need to be around when he caught his breath. It'd be bad enough I'd have two classes with him today.

Classes went deceptively quick. People gave me strange looks in the halls during passing time, but I largely ignore these since I've been getting them since early elementary school days. I was savoring my private victory. I thanked my lucky stars that Health class had assigned seating and I was in the opposite corner from Andres. His eyes still burned with rage and a promise of revenge. Gym, my last (and most useless) class, was also with Andres, but he wasn't there. I take a breath of relief. He was probably skipping.

After school let out, I decide to take a different route home. I see Mike leaning against the wall of the school. I didn't think much of it and went the two blocks north to King Road and turn east. I got across Third Street before I heard someone following me. I walk on calmly for a bit longer, my follower keeping pace with me.  
I pick up my pace and the footsteps behind me quicken to match. I didn't have to look behind me to know that it was Andres or one of his followers. I start pelting away, and the footfalls behind me increase to match, even speeding up and gaining on me.  
I quickly rounded the corner of Fourth Street and King Road. I noticed about half way through the block between King Road and Lowry Avenue there was an alley way. The plan forms to get there as quickly as possible and hopefully lose whoever was following me.  
The impromptu plan seems to work as I put on a burst of speed, nimbly avoiding the slippery patches of lingering ice as I rounded the corner to the alley…

CRACK!

I hit the ground with a thud, hands going to my face to assess the damage that had obviously been done. My hands come back sticky with blood from my nose and mouth. My nose was broken again, I was pretty sure, and I'd bitten hard enough into my lower lip to draw blood.  
Through my tearing eyes, I see Andres looming over me with Mike and Phil putting away something that looked like a handheld radios.  
"Well hello Christy. Nice to see you, bitch." Andres' comment was punctuated with a kick to my stomach. I curl up, trying to protect against the next blow.  
"I wish I could say the same…" I mutter quietly, but still they heard.  
"What was that, bitch?" The question was followed by a swift kick again to my stomach, despite my defensive curl.  
Heasks again and this time the blow is to my back. My eyes tear up again and the salty water streams down my dirty and bloody face, silently crying, but not giving them the pleasure of my voiced pain.  
"I said… I wish… I could say… the same…" I grind out through clenched teeth, trying to regain some form of composure. The responding kick fell on my upper back. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from gasping or crying out.  
After a while, I try getting up, pushing myself weakly off the muddy alley blacktop, despite knowing that they hadn't left yet, not all three of them anyways.  
A savage kick connected solidly with the side of my head, a hook on the shoe catching my cheek and drawing more blood, knocking me back down to the tarmac. I heard their laughing as they walked away.  
I try again to get myself upright but fall to my hands and knees as soon as I tried to make my legs support my weight on their own. I use the wall as leverage to get myself vertical and hobble towards Lowry Avenue. I scanned up and down the hill to make sure there were no cars coming from the freeway or from further down the hill towards the coast before I slowly cross the street, somehow staying on my feet until I had another fence to support me.  
I managed to make it in the back door without collapsing. However, the backdoor lead right to the kitchen… where my mother was waiting.  
"_Christyana Adyna Frank_, what in the world happened to you!" Mum exclaims, pausing only long enough to make sure that whatever she was fixing wouldn't be ruined by her inattention for a little while. I feel a rush of blood to my cheeks warming them and causing the cut on my cheek to sting more.  
"Andres…" I answer weakly, knowing that I didn't need to explain further than that one name.

"You know, you're going to have to start thinking about your actions before you follow through with them. I won't be here forever to clean you up, and don't even try to tell me you didn't provoke it. They only hurt you this badly when you've tried to get one over on them," Mum says, fussing, before handing me some paper towels that had been wetted down with warm water. "Go on to the bathroom and get the worst of it cleaned up. I'll be by in a moment to survey any possible severe damage."  
I nod weakly and go to the nearby bathroom to clean myself up. One look in the mirror told me that there was at least some notable damage. My nose was at an angle it shouldn't be and one of my teeth felt loose. I scrubbed at my face, cleaning off the dirt and blood from my nose, mouth and cheek. The cut on my cheek had hydrogen peroxide in it and had an antibiotic ointment smoothed on it before Mum came in.  
Mum fixed my nose, having learned to after the first time I came home with a broken nose, breaking the fragile scabs and sending a new gush of blood from my nostrils. She placed a gauze patch over the cut to make sure that scabs had a chance to form there. The dentist was called about the loose tooth and they said that if it was an adult tooth, then it would be back to normal soon. If it was a baby tooth, then it wouldn't and would eventually fall out anyways. All told, it took a good hour to survey and mend the damage.  
I take my dinner up to my room and settle down with my books for the night. It was going to be a long night even before I wound up getting waylaid by Andres…  
And I have a test in Creative Writing tomorrow… UGH!

_March 25th, 1987  
_I wake up groggy and sore at six the next morning. My eyelids protest opening as I groan and push back the covers.  
I quickly get clothes together, having stayed up too late with my homework to set out my outfit before bed. I staggered out of my room and to the bathroom. The hot water, thankfully, had had time to replenish since Mum had showered earlier and I spent probably longer than I should have trying to soak the aches out of my back and stomach. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror before I'd completely covered myself with a towel after the long shower, and the bruises were turning a nice attractive purple along my stomach, not to mention anything of the massive bruise that was my nose, mouth and cheek.  
"I hate baseball bats…" I mutter resentfully.  
My shoulders protest going over my head to get my shirt on and it hurt to bend to get my skirt and tights on.  
I put all my books into my bag for classes and hoist it to my shoulder, causing me to wince. I allow myself a hiss of pain at the discomfort before slowly making my way down the stairs.  
Mum was placing some bacon on a plate with paper towels and setting it next to the plate with a small stack of pancakes when I get to the kitchen. I set down my bag next to my chair, sighing with relief, and sit down. I think Mum caught my look of relief because she turns off the stove shortly after and ducks into the bathroom, returning shortly there after with her hand closed over something (probably aspirin or ibuprofen) and a glass of water.  
"Here you go. It should start working by the time you leave for school," Mum says as she places the three small brown pills and the glass next to each other in front of me.  
"Thanks Mum," I respond. I quickly take a gulp of water, toss the pills back and swallow.  
"Now eat your breakfast. I'll be home a little later tonight so if you could start dinner, that'd be wonderful. Instructions are on the fridge for how to do that, and Dad will be home at five, like usual." Mum says all of this in a rush and then plants a kiss on my forehead. "Be good. I'll see you tonight. Do us both a favor and don't provoke Andres again," she adds and, grabbing her purse, is out the door.  
I sigh and pick at the pancakes on my plate, idly pushing them around in the maple syrup before glancing at the clock. The clock read half past seven. I sigh again, resigned to being misunderstood and bullied, and finish my breakfast. I really shouldn't be late for my test in Creative Writing.

_Author's Note: Many thanks to Peter for being my ST. This will be an ongoing bit, I think, just to keep track of how my Changeling game goes. Christyana Adyna Frank is of my own creation and I'm rather proud of her so please ask if you'd like to use her at all. Thank you muchly and please review!  
Slytherin Shaman_


	3. College

_April 15th, 1992_

It was another grizzly day in Augusta when Christy woke to her alarm buzzing the nine AM alarm. She sighs and gets up to turn the alarm off. It's not though she really had to get out of bed to do so, her dorm was so small, but she did anyways. If she didn't, she'd roll over and miss her last class before Spring Break.

Her dresser/desk and bed, both school supplied, took up most of the room, leaving a narrow walkway between the two. Her dorm's phone was beside the school-supplied desk on the wall. There were some shelves that she'd put up with permission of the R.A. and they were almost warped from the weight of textbooks, other books, newspaper articles she'd appeared in so far, and various other knick-knacks.

Her Brother's Grimm compilation still occupied a place of honor on the shelves, next to the ancient snow globe from her childhood. A few books were scattered with papers on her desk; a small laundry basket was half-filled with crumpled clothes was on the floor next to it. The shallow center drawer of her desk/dresser was slightly ajar, the tape used to keep the sliding drawer shut still attached to the drawer front.

Christy sighs and closes the drawer and pressing the tape back down. It would slide back out if she didn't and it had caught her hip a few times before.

"Thrice cursed school furniture…" Christy mutters as she gets dressed. It was Wednesday and the last day before Spring Break so she only had her ten-thirty AM lecture that day. Her usual lab for that day had been cancelled since the professor had left early on break.

After dressing, Christy grabs a breakfast bar and the text book for her British Literature class and skims over the reading for the class today, refreshing her week-old-memory of it. At ten-fifteen, she dusts the crumbs from the book and closes it.

She gets up and picks her messenger bag from the floor at the foot of her bed, putting the book inside, before heading out the door to class.

* * *

"Well that was dry as usual," Mari comments after their class.

"It could've been worse. It could've been Professor Sulson," Christy replies as they exit the building, heading towards the cafeteria. The mention of the Native American Lit professor brings a shudder over Mari.

"Speak not such evil around me," Mari says dramatically, mock shuddering again. Christy laughs at her.

"So what've you got planned for break, Wispy Christy?" Mari asks, giving her friend a conspiratorial nudge. Christy rolls her eyes.

"You know I hate that nickname…"

"But it suits you so perfectly! Now spill! You don't have anything planned, do you?" Mari persists.

"No I don't… I have nothing planned beyond writing up last weeks' lab experiment for Chemistry."

"Well I was thinking, if you wanted and since we live in the same town, we could go home for the week… Y'know… Be lazy college kids for once…" Mari says, nudging Christy again.

"Alright, sure…" Christy responds, trailing off as her eyes catch on a vague feline shape in the fog up ahead. Without another word to Mari, Christy takes off at an easy jog after the shadow.

"Christy? Christy! Wait up!" Mari calls before chasing after her. Christy pays no heed, continuing after the vaguely familiar shape.

Christy hauls up short and peers at the shape, distinctly feline just outside the range of visibility. The shape made a dart to the right and vanished into the fog bank.

"Christy! What did you see?" Mari almost demands to know after catching up with her eccentric friend.

"Nothing… Thought I saw something familiar…" Christy says, glancing back at where the shape had disappeared to before turning back to Mari. "Let's grab lunch and then pack and go."

"Now you're talking!"

* * *

It was just a little after four when the pair of colligates made it back to New Gwynedd. Mari offered to have Christy over for dinner but Christy wanted to ditch her bag at the first convenience so Mari dropped her off in front of number 39 Mayfield Way. Christy smiles at the home she hadn't seen since early January, idly noting that her mother was home as usual, as she walks up to the front door and lets herself in.

"Mum? I'm home!" Christy calls as she opens the door. Her mother had always had a delayed response to anything so she set her bag down and pulled her light coat off and put it on a hanger.

Fiona Frank was not a very reserved woman, and her emotions were frequently on her sleeve, so Christy knew her mother was more than just shocked that her only child was home.

"Christy! What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at school?" her mother states questioningly.

"Didn't you get the message I left? I called around noon to tell you," Christy responds on edge. "It was kind of a last minute decision and Mari offered me a ride this morning after British Lit." Her mother sighs.

"Well come on… Put your bag in your room. I guess we can put up with you for a week before summer," her mother says, smiling slightly.

Christy smiles back, quickly heads up the stairs, and sets her bag on her bed. Her room was barer than she'd ever kept it while she was living there full-time, but most of the personal items were kept at school except for during the summer. She deftly opens her bag and pulls out the Brothers Grimm compilation and sets it in its usual place on the shelf above her desk.

She smiles fondly at the familiar surroundings before heading back out.

"Mum, I'm going to go to the library. I'll be home for dinner!" Christy calls as she grabs her heavier coat from the closet and goes out the door. Faintly, she heard her mother respond with a time but Christy knew that dinner was always at six thirty.

She takes the straight route up Third Street East, passing the various small town stores, houses, and warehouses on her way to the northern edge of town where the library was located. A few people recognized the 'citified' version of the Christy they'd seen grow up and felt the need to talk to her just to make sure that she really was the same person.

Christy didn't feel she'd changed particularly; she'd just gone to college in the capitol. Thankfully the people that talked to her didn't have long to talk and went back to their errands after commenting on the duster-length single-breasted coat she wore.

She wasn't far from the library when she sees Andres, Mike, and Phil up ahead, leaning against a building façade like some bad parody of the gangs she'd occasionally encountered in Augusta. She hesitates slightly at the sight of them, but quickly opts to go with the 'ignore them' approach so that there was no visible hesitation.

As she got closer, she realizes that they were smoking, Mary Janes from the smell of it, and she represses a sneer. They hadn't changed one bit from high school, staying around New Gwynedd and content to live like so many others in this fishing town. She allowed herself a small swell of confidence that, even though she'd be coming back to help the Spinners with the library, she was at least furthering her education so she could make a better life for herself if she ever wanted to leave.

She had hoped, albeit she knew vainly, that her carefree confidence would've thrown them off of cornering her for an encore performance of the various torments they'd inflicted during their school years. However, Andres seemed to have a second sense for when his favorite target was near. It was considerably dulled by the joint between his lips, but there never the less and went off no sooner than Christy had passed the trio.

"Hey… If it isn't Christy, the city bitch… How's it been?" Andres leers. Christy feels a chill go down her spine at the tone he had used, continuing to walk on as though she hadn't heard.

"Come back here you little bitch! I asked you a civil question!" Andres snaps, catching up before Christy had anytime to form a plan of action, and grabs her, roughly shoving her against the brick face of the building, not ten feet from where they'd been leaning before. Christy let her whole body go lax; one of her biology classes teaching her that tension only increased the severity of injuries suffered.

Christy opens her mouth to scream only to have a fist catch her in the jaw, slamming her head back against the wall. 'Biology be damned, the statistic was probably only for car accidents anyways,' Christy thinks with a curse as she was dragged back some distance and thrown to the ground.

Christy looks up and realizes that they have her trapped in the alley they'd been standing next to before. She looks around frantically for an exit, seeing only fire escapes and the alley entrance. She looks back at Andres and his little gang, her mask almost slipping to reveal the pure fear she was feeling at that point.

"I think it's high tide I taught you some manners, bitch…" Andres leers down at her, seemingly appreciating that her coat had fallen open to reveal the conservative navy blue turtleneck and long black skirt. Christy's eyes widen ever so slightly, reading his body language and not liking the foreshadowing. His friends were still higher than the Rolling Stones on the opening night of a tour but they were still quite capable of stopping her should she try to make a break for freedom, so she takes the only opportunity she had…

Without giving away her intent for tensing her whole body, she swiftly kicks her right foot up and it connects solidly with Andres's groin. He immediately doubles over where her foot would've been, had Christy not immediately rolled to her feet, and sags to the ground. Mike and Phil were too shocked, at first, and too stoned a moment later, to do much more than stare as Christy makes a running leap to the top of a garbage dumpster and uses that extra height to swing herself up onto the fire escape.

For what seemed like forever to Christy, she sits up on the roof of the three-story building, waiting for the loud retching sounds and angry curses to die away, staring into the distance in a state of shock.

After she felt it was safe, she risks a glance down to the alley she'd just escaped. The only evidence that Andres had been there was a puddle of vomit near the alley entrance. She climbs down, shakily at first but calming as she descends, from the rooftop and continues on to the library.

_Author's Note: Many thanks to Peter for being my ST. This will be an ongoing bit, I think, just to keep track of how my Changeling game goes. Christyana Adyna Frank is of my own creation and I'm rather proud of her so please ask if you'd like to use her at all. I rewrote this because I wasn't too pleased with the two days separate… Oh well… It could've been worse. Thank you muchly and please review!  
Slytherin Shaman_


	4. Moving Out and Settling In

March 19th, 1995

Christy smiles at the door to apartment B of number 1209 West 7th Street, the keys to said door in her hand. There were only three to the apartment, one for the door to the outside and the others for the doors at along the inside stairwell. The top two floors were hers to do with as she pleased.

_Well,_ she amends that thought, _with in reason to do with as I please. I'd like to get my security deposit back if I ever wind up moving out._

Her bed had already been moved to the top floor where the bedroom and the spacious bath was, not to mention the very large room with a window bench on the south wall that the door opened onto. Her bike was leaned up against the short wall of the four-season porch. There was a private stairwell that she could use in the back of the first floor of her apartment to get to the top floor, which she'd probably use more often as it was smaller and creaked wonderfully. The kitchen was large enough for her to have a decent sized table and chairs in there. The living room had a big window that looked out on the four season porch. The four-season porch probably couldn't be used much for four seasons. It could really only be used for three seasons. The windows (and there were many of them) were too drafty to allow for much winter watching…

But she could see everything as she wanted it. A nice long couch in the living room with as much of an entertainment center as she could afford (which wasn't much as her savings from college were severely dented by the down payment and first month's rent). A bench swing on the porch and a small chair to allow for reading or socializing (not that Christy did much of the latter). A four-person table would be in the kitchen. Her old desk fit nicely at the west window near the back stairs for the phone and taking messages. The large open room in the upstairs would make a wonderfully comfortable library.

She just had to finish things up.

She unlocks the door to the first floor of her apartment and goes to the old rotary dial phone hung on the wall by the west window, taking off her lightweight gloves and putting them in the pockets of her black pea coat that was then draped on a hook near the door. Picking up the receiver, Christy deftly dials Mari's number. Christy had never seen the point of getting a car. It'd just take up space and she never needed to go out of easy biking distance anyways. Mari, on the other hand, had inherited her dad's old pick-up truck and used it whenever she could. Christy was sure she'd help her find a Goodwill or Salvation Army, even if it meant going back to Augusta.

"Hello, Groth residence, Lynn speaking." Mari's mother answers after the second ring.

"Hello Mrs. Groth. It's Christy. Can I speak with Mari, please?" Christy asks, the polite sequence of things having been drilled into her.

"Oh! Hello Christy! One moment and I'll get her. She's been raving about this apartment she found yesterday," Lynn Groth replies before setting the phone down gently. Christy waits through the long silence until Mari picks up her receiver with a loud, "Hey there girlfriend! What's up, Wispy?"

Christy sighs slightly at the nickname but says nothing about it. "I need help furnishing my apartment. Could you help me out with that nice truck of yours? I only have my bed and a very small desk from my par-"

"Awesome! Let's go! Where do you live now?" Mari interrupts eagerly. Christy smiles.

"West seventh, twelve-oh-nine, apartment B," Christy answers, summing up the important information shortly.

"Great! I'll be there in a minute!" Mari responds. "See you soon!" she adds before hanging up.

Christy grins at her exuberant friend as she hangs up her phone. If there were two things that could be counted on in the universe, it would have to be Mari's love of driving people anywhere, and Mari's willingness to spend money… Especially if it wasn't her own. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

"I can't believe you had me get all that stuff…" Christy says, staring at the balance page of her checkbook before putting it in her purse again. She then twists in her seat to peer at the flat bed and the back seat of Mari's truck. Boxes of home-assembly kits for chairs, tables, and bookcases and a desk filled most of the flat bed, the rest taken up by the large couch that was too long for the bed and was tilted up over the gate. The backseat was filled with painting and paint effect supplies, not to mention a few household supplies that Christy had yet to have gotten… Like non-perishable food, plates, flatware, and shower curtains.

"You would've gotten it eventually. Isn't it better to get it all in one trip?" Mari retorts with a wry smile as she drives the pair back to Christy's apartment.

"The sofa's going to be interesting to get into the apartment. At least it's going in the front room." Christy replies as she sits back in her seat. "I won't have time to do all the painting. You know I start working on Monday."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Even the library closes on Sunday. Even you can't work when the library's closed, Wispy Christy," Mari rejoins playfully with a smirk at her best friend though her eyes remained steadily on the road before her truck. "And besides, I'll do it between working at the library, since I don't intend on being at work from dawn 'til dusk, and writing my latest brilliant short story."

"Another one, Ghostspeaker? You'd think the brilliance would wear off… Aren't they more towards inspired now?" Christy teases with an almost identical smirk.

"Hey!" Mari exclaims, risking a quick glance at her passenger with a look of feigned hurt. Christy could only laugh in response.

The teasing continued through the last five minutes of the drive back to Christy's apartment.

The fun part of carrying in the sofa came first, which they'd decided would go in before the overcast sky could rain on them. They'd had to go up to the landing, go up towards the top landing with one end, angle it in the door, go into the kitchen to turn it around, and then set it against the wall in the living room. All of this was done with not a few fumbles resulting in bruised feet and toes, causing the landlord downstairs to come out and see what the ruckus was. After seeing the limping girls heading back out to the truck with a half full flatbed, he laughed and helped by carrying in the assemble-at-home chairs inside in pairs.

One of the tables, all of the bookcases, and four of the chairs went upstairs in the room designated as her soon-to-be library, and the desk and another chair went into the bedroom. The rest was shuffled around the first floor of her apartment, five chairs going into the kitchen with the dining table.

Christy thanks her landlord as they bring the last of decorating and food supplies were dragged in by the slightly rained-on girls and they set about to organizing all her new possessions in the roomy apartment.

After they'd put together the kitchen table and two chairs for themselves, Christy fixed spaghetti for dinner for both of them, as both had not eaten more than a snack bar since that morning, and soon all of it was gone.

"So much for leftovers…" Christy muttered, not a bit resentful as she washes the last of the dishes and hands it to Mari.

"Heh… Yeah… I'll come back tomorrow to help with all the painting and stuff but I'm beat. See you around ten?" Mari responds with a half-covered yawn as she sets the dish in the crowded drying rack.

Christy smiles at Mari and nods an agreement. "See you tomorrow, Mari."

"See you, Christy," Mari replies and lets herself out, leaving Christy to finish the tidying up and her thoughts.

After Christy quickly wipes down the table and stove, she realizes just how tired she is as well. With a great yawn, Christy makes her way up the creaky back stairs to head to bed.

_Author's Note: Many thanks to Peter for being my ST. This will be an ongoing bit, I think, just to keep track of how my Changeling game goes. Christyana Adyna Frank is of my own creation and I'm rather proud of her so please ask if you'd like to use her at all. Thank you muchly and please review!  
Slytherin Shaman_


End file.
